Pak reacts angrily to Cameron's terror remarks

British PM David Cameron's warning that Pakistan should not have links with groups that export terror drew an angry response from Islamabad, which said it had done more than other nations in combating the menace.

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PTI

Islamabad

July 28, 2010

UPDATED: July 28, 2010 22:20 IST

British Prime Minister David Cameron's warning that Pakistan should not have links with groups that export terror drew an angry response from Islamabad, which said it had done more than other nations in combating the menace.

Noting that terrorism is a "global issue", Foreign Office spokesman Abdul Basit said the world community should instead ask India to "view this issue objectively".

"Pakistan has done much more than any other country in combating terrorism. Our people and security forces have rendered innumerable sacrifices. We hope that our friends will be able to persuade India to view this issue objectively and the value of 'cooperation' in counter-terrorism," Basit said in a statement.

He said that "terrorism is a global issue as well as regional and local" and that Pakistan and Britain have a "robust and comprehensive partnership, including on counter-terrorism".

"Terrorists have no religion, no humanity, no specific ethnicity or geography. Terrorists' networks, as the UK knows full well, mutate and operate in different regions and cities.

The genesis of terrorism as a global phenomenon warrants close attention," Basit said. "Pakistan is as much a victim of terrorism as are Afghanistan, India or other countries," he added.

Speaking in Bangalore, Prime Minister Cameron warned Pakistan not to have any relations with groups that "promote the export of terror".He said he would raise the issue with his Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh when they hold talks tomorrow.

Cameron's remarks follow the leak of secret US documents on WikiLeaks website that said Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence agency was allegedly helping the Afghan Taliban.

He said Britain wants a strong, stable and democratic Pakistan but it "cannot tolerate in any sense the idea that this country is allowed to look both ways and is able, in any way, to promote the export of terror whether to India, whether to Afghanistan or to anywhere else in the world".Cameron's spokeswoman clarified he was talking about Pakistan as a country and not the government.

She said the main message was for Pakistan to shut down terror groups.

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